Disturbia

Saturday night the wife, Kirsta and I went out to the Rosedale Mall to grab a bite to eat and see a movie at the 'new' AMC theater. Being at a mall is always pretty awkward, I feel, as we're just not far enough removed from the high school crowds that regular that scene. But that's a topic for another blog...

Anyway, we had a very decent dinner at Big Bowl where each of us partook in their homemade ginger drink specialties. The ginger tea was delicious. But we had to hurry out of there because I was in charge of the movies, and, of course, I didn't remember any of the start times to the movies we wanted to see -- and my assumption that "there'll be a 9 o'clock show of any of 'em..." was completely wrong. :) The timing worked out amazingly well, however, and we sat down at maybe 7:50 for the 7:45 showing of Disturbia... still catching 10 of the 15 minutes of previews before the feature presentation.

Now, I don't know what you've heard of this film, but what I heard was that I was a rather weak adaptation of Rear Window, but with decent performances by Lebouf, Moss, and Morse... And where I can kind of see where that kind of review is coming from, I really couldn't say that any individual's performance was the reason I ended up enjoying myself in this film.

...I suppose that these actors were all good enough here not to 'screw it up,' which is - now that I think of it - more of a feat than I at first recognized. Especially in a teen-thriller type of movie...

But I did really like this movie. I certainly enjoyed myself during Disturbia more than I have at most of the movies I've seen so far this year (Hot Fuzz being a notable exception). And from what I heard, so did the rest of the people in the theater. Änna, for one, spent much of the last half of the movie so far down in her seat that only her head was touching the backrest... which doesn't sound at first like an "enjoying-oneself-posture," but she was both laughing and screaming out of the fearful pleasure that Disturbia delivered. I didn't get up to see, but I had fun imagining how many of the other people in the theater were in similarly hilarious positions when they let out their own joyous screams.

The last time that I remember that same kind of energy in a movie theater was back in high school when some friends and I went into the first Scream movie, to do just that... (We even brought in large tubs of popcorn to throw into the air at the most appropriate moments.) I don't really see any valuable comparisons between Scream and Disturbia, but I do suppose that the better cast helped out a bit. Especially in the first part of the film. Really though, it was the writing, directing and camera work that made Disturbia an effective movie. I loved the Rear Window references (and others, Blair Witch, even the Matrix) that were introduced with a reasonable mixture of subtlety and in-your-face-ness. I also appreciated the way that the film 'wrapped up' at the end. Maybe I give the director too much credit, because I've heard that some people took the ending to be rushed, out of the blue, and convenient, but I felt like the story pulled up before it delved too deeply into potentially inappropriate/harmful (to the story), or boring territory.

In conclusion: Hurry up and see this one while it's still in the theaters. And try to bring 50 of your closest (more easily startled) friends. You'll have a good time.

Hot Fuzz, 28 Weeks Later.

I've decided that I can recommend both of these movies, but not without reservation...

Both are lesser movies than their predecessors -- Shawn of the Dead tops Hot Fuzz as both a comedy AND as an example of genre film making -- 28 Weeks, although as well shot and directed as 28 Days, losses a lot of credibility with a much weak[er] storyline.

Some credit still should be given in both cases.

True: Shawn is a much better example zombie movie making than Fuzz is of action/cop movies (and I'd agree with the guys at Filmspotting when they point out that Shawn is even a better action movie than the action driven, Hot Fuzz...), BUT these filmmakers have done a pretty good job of not following in the steps of so many others... With the addition of more money, talent, etc., 'young' writers/directors can easily overlook their own, unique brand of work to try to create a conventional Hollywood blow-out of a movie... (Just take the boys at Broken Lizard who went from the awesome Super Troopers to the awful Club Dread.) Simon Pegg et al have seemed to pulled up short of selling themselves out, and it works.
Especially if you enjoy [way, way] over the top cop-action-drama.

28 Weeks Later was a little more disappointing... and actually that's mostly because it starts off so well... or maybe because I can't let things go. Hmm.

Anyway, the opening scenes are really great in 28 Weeks Later, and I found myself totally pulled into the story -- only to have it go off in directions I thought were below the 28 ___ Later franchise's vision... I feel like this movie has come out too recently for me to spoil any more of the plot for those of you still waiting to see it, so I'll pull up, saying only that kids usually ruin movies like this because it gives the director/writer too many outs. (Why did this character do that obviously dangerous and stupid thing? Oh, because it's just a kid... "Move in the out field. Easy out.")

May Movie Night

Mr. Jim Hagstrom is going to host the screening for May. He's choosen the movie The Caine Mutiny (1954), directed by Edward Dmytryk (a favorite noir director of mine!).

When: 7:00 pm, Saturday the 19th.
Where: Way out in Afton! But in a great screening/home theater set up.
(Google Maps: 3637 Trading Post Trail, Afton, MN 55001)

General Directions, from 94:
Take exit 253 for Manning Ave/CR-15/MN-95 S - Go South 4.2 miles.
Turn left at 40th St S/CR-18 - Go East 2.4 miles.
Turn left at Trading Post Trail S - Go North > .5 miles.
Arrive at 3637 Trading Post Trail - It's the first driveway on the right.

So Many Movies, So Little Time

Playing this weekend...

---St.Paul---
Highland Theater just got The Lives of Others - I didn't expect that I'd be able to see this film in the theaters anymore. Highland's sister theater, the Grandview, is showing The Namesake right now too. You really have to give it to the theater owners around here for showing really quality movies. The Riverview is playing both The Queen and The Last King of Scotland, so if you're like me and need to catch up on your '06 Ocsar Award winners... here's your chance. Oh, and on that note, the Riverview is having a special Earth Day screening of An Inconvenient Truth. (12:30pm, Sunday)

---Lagoon--- (and others, semi-wide release)
The Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie sounds like it's strictly for the fans of the show... so I'd probably enjoy it... (Hey, if it's playing at Lagoon it has to be good right?) Also showing: The Hoax and Hot Fuzz, the second of which I'm very excited to see (as a big fan of Shawn of the Dead). The Hoax looked horrible from the ads but has gotten pretty great reviews (?). Any thoughts?

In wide release, Disturbia sounds like it'll be everything you expect from a modern/teen update of Rear Window... although Shia LaBeouf, Carrie Ann Moss and David Morse are said to give very decent performances.

Let us know if you go to see any of these!
Thanks.

9/11: Press for Truth. FREE SHOWING!

A couple of community members and the management at the Riverview Theater have gotten together to put on a FREE showing of the documentary 9/11: Press for Truth. 10:45 am, Saturday (4/14) morning.

Apparently public showings like this one have been happening all over the country as some of the victims' (of 9/11) families want to share what they've found out about what really led up to 9/11 happening, and what has been done since (and why). To find out more about this documentary and the The 9/11 Timeline project that started this grassroots movement, check out http://www.911pressfortruth.com/.

Maybe I'll see you at Riverview.

The Namesake

So I'm unemployed in case you didn't know... and if I didn't already see enough movies, I definitely am now. Today I saw The Namesake starring Kal Penn as Gogol, a young Indian American son of immigrant parents struggling to tear away from their traditional cultural values, yet eventually coming to terms with his place in the world and their importance to him. I won't recap the plot, as you can read that elsewhere.

Overall the film seemed to try to cover a little too much time, eventually feeling a bit disjointed, but when it was effective, it was very effective. The actors who play his parents were shown in perhaps a 25 year time span. They aged with the use of makeup, hair alteration, and wardrobe changes, and pulled it off very effectively. I really appreciated them a lot.

Sadly, a few of the other characters were a little thinly portrayed. I found myself very engaged in the subject matter for most of the movie, but sadly in an effort to span Gogol's entire life, the movie offered a few less than stellar moments with some fairly boring interjections.

I recommend the movie on it's efforts to draw out the way a family can be sometimes stretched thin because of cultural and generational differences. These were especially vivid thru the eyes of an immigrant family coming to the United States in the late 70's from India. Sadly the film as a whole fell just a bit short of it's promising premise in an effort to do just a bit too much.

The Lookout

Saw The Lookout today, and was quite pleased. I really liked it a lot. I didn't know too much about it, other than what I had read in few quick one-liners about its quality. What I thought was going to be a well developed caper movie was actually more of an examination of the main character's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fall from grace and struggle to co-exist in the the very new adult world that he has created for himself in a fleeting moment of adolescent irresponsibility.

Jeff Daniels was also very good as a sort of mentor/buddy figure, playing one of the more convincing blind men I've seen in a long time, such that it's not just a caricature of the sardonic old man, but a true friend bearing some warmth and wisdom in a seemingly bleak existence for the both of them.

Best Movie I've seen this year so far.